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Vol. 86 July 18, 2026 No. 19

Pape

French (of Paris)

inventor

Biography

Pape, of Paris, was the inventor of a grand piano action design that later became the basis for an American improvement patent. John Pethick, a piano-maker of Mount Morris, New York, was granted a U.S. patent on February 12, 1836, specifically described as covering "improvements in the grand action invented by Pape, of Paris," indicating that Pape's original mechanism was already recognized in the American trade as a notable point of reference. No further biographical detail about Pape himself is given in this text.

Highlights

  • Paris-based inventor of a grand piano action that John Pethick later patented improvements to in 1836

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 189.

Public domain.

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